Thomas Paine

To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

3 April - Blogs I'm Following II

A beach on Redang Island in the South China Sea. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)The South China Sea coast at Hainan. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)South China Sea....A refugee woman cares for three small children on the replenishment oiler USS Wabash, AOR-5. Twenty-eight boat people were picked up from their wooden boat by a whaleboat from the oiler., 08/05/1979 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)Map of the South China Sea (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The government-owned China Daily featured an editorial today containing a devastating condemnation of the US-led war in Afghanistan. The context is the massacre of 16 Afghan civilians in Kandahar on Marc...

Terming the South China Sea as a disputed region, China has warned India to refrain from undertaking oil exploration in the resource-rich Vietnamese blocks in order to ensure "peace and stability" in the ...

Buyers hoping to pick up a bargain on a foreclosed home won’t have much luck in Green Hills or Belle Meade, where only a few dozen borrowers defaulted last year. But homes by the hundreds faced foreclosu...

NEW DELHI: After a carbon tax levied on aviation by the European Union, the government is now preparing for a possible trade war with the European Commission imposing a similar levy on shipping business as...

Rs 100 cr routed through Uco Bank for exporters of pharmaceutical items. India and Iran have conducted their first rupee transaction for exports of pharmaceutical products and some other goods worth Rs 10...

Experts warned that original draft legislation would have legalised disappearances, allowing police to hold suspects without informing families. China unveils new legislation on police powers of detention...

China has pledged to end the practice of taking organs from executed prisoners within the next five years, state media report. Officials say the country would instead rely on a new national donation syst...

The US touts itself as the land of free, but it has laws which are designed to crush criticisms of the state. New Haven, CT - In 1893, a massive financial panic sent demand for the Pullman Palace Car Comp...

Common sense dictates that war with Iran would be devastating for the region - and common sense must prevail. Washington, DC - One critical element leads me to the conclusion that the United States will n...

A mountain looming over a French commune with a population of just 200 is being touted as a modern Noah's Ark when doomsday arrives – supposedly less than nine months from now. A rapidly increasing strea...

Washington, D.C. (CNN) -- During a sleepless night, Song Ee Han agonized over a decision: Was she willing to leave her youngest child behind while she and her daughters escaped North Korea? The next morn...

(CNN) -- Travel to Shekou, a port city in Shenzhen, and you will find the stirrings of something unexpected: entrepreneurial capitalism. This part of China, home to many mega-factories like those of Foxco...

Today’s idea: The all-professional military poses a danger to American democracy, a historian says, because it allows politicians to wage prolonged wars with the public disengaged, and thus soldiers’ disd...

MASHAVA, Zimbabwe - Susan Dhliwayo was stunned when she pulled her car over recently to pick up a group of male hitchhikers and they refused to get in. The reason? They feared being raped. Sensational re...

Authorities in Shanghai are considering establishing an all-boys high school in response to a so-called "masculinity crisis" among male Chinese youth. The idea has caused a stir in Chinese cyberspace, wi...

The health of hospitalized Canadians and their visitors is being seriously put at risk by hospitals that have cut corners in cleaning budgets to save money, a Marketplace investigation has revealed. The ...

North's on-job carcinogen limits weakest in Canada Working environments in Canada’s isolated Arctic are "an embarrassment" when it comes to the amounts of carcinogens labourers can be exposed to, a federa...

A bald eagle glides low, curving with the meandering sloughs of Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge in Southeast Portland. At the former St. Johns landfill northwest of downtown, workers track a breeding pair th...

WASHINGTON — As natural gas production in the United States hits an all-time high, a major unanswered question looms: What does growing hydraulic fracturing mean for climate change? The Obama administrat...

*Here I am in downtown Timbuktu, 4 years ago* When I would tell people I was going to Mali or I had gone to Mali they would look at me incomprehensibly. Maui? Bali? I almost never met an American who knew...

Love that Rethuglican clown show? Try not to forget as you chuckle along with the unending unique brand of American political sideshow that the quiet but never-ending machinations of the rapidly growing de...

“How small a portion of our life it is that we really enjoy. In youth we are looking forward to things that are to come; in old age, we are looking backwards to things that are gone past; in manhood, alth...

A magnitude 3.5 earthquake has struck Southern California at a depth of just 1.3 km (0.8 miles), the quake hit at 01:12:08 UTC Wednesday 4th April 2012 The epicenter was 17 km (10 miles) Northeast from In...

A magnitude 4.1 earthquake has struck Western Turkey at a depth of 8.8 km (5.5 miles), the quake hit at 00:33:00 UTC Wednesday 4th April 2012 The epicenter was 33 km (20 miles) ENE of Denizli, Turkey No Re...

“Many stars form in clusters. Galactic or open star clusters are relatively young swarms of bright stars born together near the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy. Separated by about a degree on the sky, two ni...

A magnitude 4.7 earthquake has struck off the East Coast of Honshu, Japan at a depth of 38.9 km (24.2 miles), the quake hit at 00:13:00 UTC Wednesday 4th April 2012 The epicenter was 113 km (70 miles) ESE...

*“Brain/Mind”* by Chet Raymo “The brain is flesh. A softball-sized clump of meat. Blood and burger. But, oh, what meat! An estimated 100 billion neurons. Each neuron reaching out with spidery arms to tou...

I'm going to repeat here what I said at Dawg's: nothing gets done by a harpercon unless harper wants it done. Just like the party-financed "private member's bill" about the gun registry when he had a min...

I appear to have been hacked on my home computer. Bravo! Very cleverly done! But this shall be fixed very shortly! Update: 8:45 PST Thank you for reversing that. It won't help you anyway. I own far ...

*“10 Lessons from Einstein”* by Paulo Coelho *1. Follow Your Curiosity:* “I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.” *2. Perseverance is Priceless:* “It’s not that I’m so smart; it’s just...

*"Radiation Levels in California Rain Recorded at 506% Above Normal"* by The Intel Hub "A radiation test carried out after a storm swept through Southern California has recorded radiation at 506% above no...

*"Radiation Levels in California Rain Recorded at 506% Above Normal"* The Intel Hub "A radiation test carried out after a storm swept through Southern California has recorded radiation at 506% above norma...

I have seen several European countries and cities (been to Europe 4x), many US states and cities, Asian countries and cities, Sydney. But moving and living abroad never crossed my mind. There's just more f...

*"Are We Oppressed by Technology?"* by Jeffrey Tucker "Do we really need an iPad 3 after it seems as if iPad 2 was released only a few months ago? Was it absolutely necessary that Google give us Google+? ...

This is Laffy's latest blunt, a 10 minute video from mostly Twitter liberal luminaries about Trayvon Martin, including the Rude Pundit and Marnus3. I come in at 3:50 in. Very powerful piece and a good job...

[image: German solar panel manufacturer Q-Cells filed for bankruptcy on Tuesday, 3 April 2012. AFP] By Stefan Schultz 3 April 2012 The German solar industry is at a turning point. The bankruptcy of Q-Ce...

*When now ex-GSA Administrator Martha Johnson (seen here in 2010 with Homeland Security Sec'y Janet Napolitano at left) was finally confirmed for her job, after one of those endless Senate confirmation str...

*"The loss of the Saskatchewan film employment tax credit has been a blow to the industry, but it will also be felt in Indian country, where aboriginal people were playing a major role in the film indust...

The leader of what has been called the largest proven human smuggling ring in Canadian history was sentenced to nine years in prison Tuesday. Ferenc Domotor, 49, was sentenced in a Hamilton, Ont., court af...

The Columbia Journalism Review has an informative and eye-opening interview with Justin Gillis, who covers climate change for the *New York Times*. I have been fairly critical of Gillis' reporting on thi...

http://sixthestate.net/?page_id=1381 Is this accurate? It is consistent with a sense that Party affiliation is tremendously important to this government. (And yes other Parties favoured their own but it w...

I just finished reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told by Alex Haley and the epilogue by Haley, and the endnote "On Malcolm X" (reproduced below) by Ossie Davis who had delivered this moving eulogy.I...

*Q: What do Sky City, Air New Zealand, Mediaworks, South Canterbury Finance and Fletcher Building have in common? A: They’re all big enough to pull favours out of the Prime Minister’s arse.* After four ...

*“* Hilarious that Fulfie describes the coalition as BRICs (small s for South Africa). There’s been articles locally about how small South Africa is in comparison to the others, and how we’ve only been ...

About 10,000 homes in the north of England are without power after strong winds and ice brought down lines. Northern Powergrid said the cuts had affected buildings between Carlisle and Newcastle. Faults h...

Bit of a ramble here. Michael Byers and Stewart Webb nail *a lesson in the F-35* (via Dawg). The latest is where we find F-35's stealthy skin apparently doesn't react too well when the plane hits design...

Not all that long ago a story appeared about a fire in California in which a man, David Aaron, said he lost all of his collection of UFO related materials. Included in that was a reported interview of Mack...

A "tornado emergency" has been declared in Texas after two twisters caused mayhem in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The United States National Weather Service confirmed that two separate "supercells" had ...

At Greg's place today, I reacted to the NYT FDA story about WH political interference in policy matters. Important point that I didn't emphasize there: we would expect the FDA to leak that sort of accusati...

An announcement this week shows this government’s alleged economic management is even more irresponsible than we thought. When the recession hit the decision facing everyone in the country, from politic...

*"Organized crime will put a man in the White House someday-- and he won't know it until they hand him the bill." - Ralph Salerno, NYPD, 1967* That man was Ronald Reagan. You probably wouldn't have gues...

What took nature thousands of years to create was destroyed in a matter of hours by the machines of man. I am familiar with construction sites, born into the concrete jungle of South Florida, where saw...

Papa had a brand new bag:James Brown was 'The One'By Ron Jacobs / The Rag Blog / April 3, 2012[The One: The Life and Music of James Brown, by RJ Smith (2012: Gotham); Hardcover; 464 pp.; $27.50l.]When I was ...

* * *My light is on your path to show you the way.* Michael channeled by Ron Head April 2, 2012 in Ron's Channeled Messages Adjustments have been made to the relative valuations of most of the currenci...

[image: The first 31 years of this projection are relatively well-defined and can now be compared to the observations. We used the GISS Land-Ocean Index that uses SST over the oceans (the original one in...

Stanley Cutler says that "of all the presidents in the last 50 years, it is Nixon that’s the most interesting." Is Nixon more interesting than LBJ? I'm not sure. I would say, however, that I find Nixon, Jo...

[image: Line plot of global mean land-ocean temperature index, 1880 to present, with the base period 1951-1980. The dotted black line is the annual mean and the solid red line is the five-year mean. The ...

The alarming number of marine deaths off the Konkan coast in the past few days, with two whales and several turtles found beached in separate incidents, could be natural or fishing-related, said experts. ...

*"It think this is a great country. In some countries I might be actually locked up for teaching the way I have, but in this country, I'm just banned from doing it." — Curtis Acosta (TUSD Teacher)* The D...

In the struggle for freedom, it is vital that we fight the real enemy, and do not get drawn into attacking those who are used as human shields. We need to distinguish between the real architects of our p...

Jon Butterworth of ATLAS asked the same question on his Guardian blog. Many other physicists will be asking the question increasingly more frequently, especially if (and as long as) the 125 GeV God parti...

Mike Luckovich political cartoon from The Friends of Jake.GOP's biggest mistake:The anti-woman agendaBy Ted McLaughlin / The Rag Blog / April 3, 2012I can understand some of the actions of Republicans, even ...

Below is an important and informative short clip called "Western ideas in Iran." It destroys the Islamic Republic of Iran's propaganda that democracy and freedom are purely Western ideals, and do not deser...

Like scary stories? Here's one. Imagine that Stephen Harper truly is the "Smartest Man In the [Tory Caucus] Room." Since he came onto the federal scene we've repeatedly heard the Steve sees himself a...

[image: An aerial view of damage to Sukuiso, Japan, a week after the earthquake and subsequent tsunami devastated the area in March, 2011. Dylan McCord. U.S. Navy] By Jesse Emspak, LiveScience Contribut...

A stranded whale in East Lothian has died after a huge rescue effort failed to save its life. The 15ft (4.5m) minke whale was found by the coastguard at North Berwick's east beach, near the harbour, at 0...

(Reuters) - Opposition activists accused Syrian troops of shelling two cities on Tuesday in a campaign to weaken forces fighting President Bashar al-Assad's government before a ceasefire deadline next wee...

I'm a pretty old blogger in more ways than one, but Atrios is older in blog years. He's coming up on his tenth blogiversary and is doing a series of rare long form posts to mark the occasion. Being that I'...

*by Len Hart, The Existentialist Cowboy* Many sources support my assertion and emerging thesis: the concept of 'corporate personhood' has Germanic, fascist roots. Herr Schlegel, for example, wrote an essa...

Last day of the historic Pueblo Convocation. Media is invited to this rare opportunity to hear Pueblo leaders from the 19 New Mexico Pueblos, Isleta del Sur of Texas and Hopi of Arizona. The Convocation...

WASHINGTON (AP) Despite tough talk from President Barack Obama, the United States and its allies have limited options if North Korea goes ahead with its planned long-range rocket launch in mid-April. Was...

Bangladesh's quaint town of Tangail stands in stark contrast to its infamous red light area that houses over hundreds of sex workers. A majority of prostitutes in Kandapara slum are as young as twelve yea...

(CNN) -- At least four people were killed and dozens more injured in heavy fighting around the coastal Libyan city of Zuwara on Tuesday, a city official said. The four killed were Zuwara militia members e...

(CNN) -- Sondos Asem has butterflies, formulating answers to questions she expects to be asked and practicing her diction with the devotion of a high school debate champion. The gentle 24-year-old graduat...

A magnitude 4.0 earthquake has struck the Virgin Islands Region at a depth of just 5 km (3.1 miles), the quake hit at 16:24:36 UTC Tuesday 3rd April 2012 The epicenter was 23 km (14 miles) North from Grov...

** *... all in good, sick fun, of course.* *Contributor: "YYC"* VIDEO: CNN feigns a neutral position while accusing FOX and MSNBC of taking sides in the vigilante shooting of teenager Trayvon Martin. CNN...

Request For a Day For All In Major League Baseball to Honor Native American Baseball PlayersFrom Quanah Parker Brightman Posted at Censored News It's time for Major League Baseball to acknowledge and HONO...

If every American would stop eating products with sugar added, I suspect our health bills would fall by about 75 percent in the United States. After experiencing some symptoms which are associated with d...

*Federal Reserve Notes Belong In The Toilet.* Bernie Madoff, Ben Bernanke, and Barack Obama are names that belong in the same sentence. They have destroyed global public confidence in the U.S. governm...

Charlie Smith identifies one of Christy Clark's big problems in a Georgia Straight piece today. "With most politicians," Smith writes, "you can figure out what they really believe in. There are certain is...

Blue America was the first national group to endorse Ilya Sheyman and we were sad that the DCCC and other DC conservatives were able beat him in the primary last month. But we were as happy as can be tha...

Royal Mail has been accused of trying to airbrush the two world wars after postcards from the 1940s were banned for being offensive to Germans. The light-hearted cartoon images feature Hitler, Hermann Goe...

Two controversial papers on bird flu will be published by scientific journals this year after the go-ahead was given by a U.S biosecurity panel. The National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB)...

American Scofflaw Bush, Powell, PNAC, etc. et. al. are just dropping the blame on him, so they can claim to be trustworthy when they claim Iran needs to be invaded. Now the US government (and the corpora...

A personal trainer who called himself 'Danger' has been accused of using Craigslist to stalk women and 'torture' them. Dejon Miller, 35, from Hollywood, allegedly used the advertising website to recruit ...

A father who was credited with helping to bring an end to last summer's riots accused a man of staring at his wife before punching him to the ground, a court has heard. Tariq Jahan, 46, allegedly assault...

*NOTE: This is a guest post by Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus of The Breakthrough Institute* In the two years since climate treaty talks fizzled in Copenhagen, the international community fin...

A former soldier suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder has been cleared today of murdering his landlady. Aaron Wilkinson, 24, of Alma Street, Woodlesford, Leeds, was found not guilty of murdering...

Wall Street Journal page A10 April 3, 2012 by Y. Hayashi [excerpt] "A government panel estimates Teco will have to pay [in yen] 4.5 trillion in compensation by the accident's second anniversary in March ...

*TUESDAY, APRIL 3, 2012* *What, The Times report:* Yesterday, we discussed Paul Krugman’s new column, which called Paul Ryan’s budget proposal a fraud. See THE DAILY HOWLER, 4/2/12. According to Krugman...

I will be on a panel at 1.45pm in Indigo A with the following description: There has been a growing body of work in world politics that relies on or analyzes fictional narratives. To what extent can cultut...

Asahi: Power industry donated millions to influential research agency" "The electric power industry donated 250 million yen ($3 million) to the Japan Atomic Energy Agency over four years, including 55.1 ...

I really hate these questions: From what you saw and heard about the Court hearings on the health care law, opinion of the [health care law/Supreme Court] hasn't changed; less favorable; more favorable W...

The Pentagon recently activated its global missile shield in anticipation of North Korea’s launch of a long-range missile, according to defense officials. The measures include stepped-up electronic monito...

Egypt has reported the seventh and eighth cases of human infection with H5N1 avian influenza in 2012 according to a World Health Organization (WHO) Global Alert Response (GAR). The Ministry of Health and ...

Hong Kong (HKSAR) - A green tea leaves sample, imported from Japan and collected from a local retail outlet during surveillance, has been found to have low radioactivity levels, a spokesman for the Centre...

Steve Harper, perhaps unwittingly, set out to be the Defence department's butt boy and today he finds himself with a blinding hangover, lying in an alley in a pool of his own puke, surrounded by empty bott...

[image: Flexible solar-powered shades and tents designed for military purposes. U.S. Army via ecofriend.com] By Joshua Zaffos and Daily Climate 2 April 2012 The U.S. military's elite forces have always...

Mainichi: Cesium up to 100 times levels before disaster found in plankton far off nuke plant [excerpted] Radioactive cesium up to 100 times pre-nuclear disaster levels has been detected in plankton inha...

Today's NY Times has a lengthy article by Gardiner Harris on conflicts between the Obama Administration and the Food and Drug Administration over decisions over food labeling, drug safety and regulation...

A magnitude 4.5 earthquake has struck near the Coast of Nicaragua at a depth of 47.2 km (29.3 miles), the quake hit at 13:08:51 UTC Tuesday 3rd April 2012 The epicenter was 77 km (47 miles) Southwest of M...

Israel using their Mossad and Sayanim agents within the United States, and with their firm and total control over the US Government, absolutely did the attacks of September 11th, 2001 that cost the lives o...

And military vet Scott Olson was shot in the head by police at OCCUPY OAKLAND? And OCCUPY OAKLAND has the most UNCONSTITUTIONAL police brutality? Did any "news" anchors say, "This is odd: there's two huge ...

During the past weekend (March 30-April 2), a feisty and determined group of teachers, scholars, parents, grandparents, and students met to organize and teach one another about how all this high stakes tes...

*R. v. Aitken*, 2012 BCCA 134 considers the admission of what appears to be novel science as part of expert evidence. The specific question was whether a podiatrist could evidence about an individual’s...

*TUESDAY, APRIL 3, 2012* *Part 2—The Times reports height and weight:* Balconies rarely fall off the sides of major American buildings. Presumably, that reflects the competence of those in the building t...

The news is nasty. I wonder if we are going to look back at this famine and say, in hindsight, this is where the global conflagration began. "Vast portions of west and central Africa have become so dry tha...

[image: Dry as a bone: A stranded boat jetty at Bewl Water reservoir in Kent, February 2012. dailymail.co.uk] By Nathan Rao 28 March 2012 Almost half of Britain now faces devastating water shortages wit...

On Sunday, the Wildrose Party released an April Fools press release, proposing to merge Alberta and Saskatchewan. On Monday, they took the silliness up a level: *Wildrose promises cash rebates to Alberta...

Happy Birthday to Mike Ness of Social D, 50. Sorry for the slow blogging yesterday. You know what's good times? A 24 hour stomach thing. At least I hope it's only a 24 hour thing... And some good stuff: ...

The world's most powerful woman, Angela Merkel, is visiting Prague today. She speaks Czech to some extent; to say the least, her skills would simplify her practical life in the Czech lands because she know...

Welcome to Change The World Wednesday Daily (#CTWW)! If this is your first visit, please click HERE for information and a complete list of all the challenges we've taken on so far. Here's today's challeng...

* Must read links-* This post will put them all in one place for your easy accessibility. *From Anonymous/ April 03/2012* -*The real Bashar Al-Assad * *" A very objective study of the current Syrian crisi...

The Harper government keeps adding to its enemies list. First and foremost, there are the "radical environmentalists." And, of course, there is the CBC. And then there is the entire province of Quebec. ...

*What the DCCC should have run* We've been castigating the DCCC for campaigning against Paul Ryan everywhere in the country-- except WI-1, his own congressional district. Now, for the first time in a deca...

Last night my husband was in a creative mood. When he gets like this, I tell me him to unleash his creativity on dinner. Sometimes it backfires and other times it is utterly and completely amazing. This ...

(CNN) -- Amnesty International has raised concerns about the safety of civilians in areas of northern Mali now controlled by Tuareg and Islamist rebels, citing reports of violence and looting. The warnin...

A magnitude 5.0 earthquake has struck near the East Coast of Honshu, Japan at a depth of 28.1 km (17.5 miles), the quake hit at 11:52:23 UTC Tuesday 3rd April 2012 The epicenter was 84 km (52 miles) ESE o...

Key al Qaeda online forums have fallen silent in the past two weeks, leaving terrorism experts to wonder the cause and whether a key communications mode of the terror group and its affiliates has been pu...

(CNN) -- Severe flooding in the Pacific island nation of Fiji has killed five people and left about 8,000 others seeking shelter in evacuation centers, a government official said Tuesday. Tropical Cyclon...

(CNN) -- Anti-government fighters found the bodies of 78 people, apparently tortured to death, in a refrigerator at a hospital in Homs, Syria, captured from government forces Monday, opposition activists ...

(CNN) -- Despite a recent promise by the Syrian government to withdraw its forces from population centers, the military pounded opposition-held northern towns and clashed with defectors, activists said T...

(CNN) -- Two new pieces of evidence appear to lend credence to opposing versions of what happened the night Trayvon Martin died. Enhanced surveillance images of George Zimmerman, the man who admitted sh...

Vast portions of west and central Africa have become so dry that they can't support crops, livestock and the millions of people who live there. The Sahel - a belt of arid land that stretches across Afric...

Snow is predicted to fall in northern England and Ireland and possibly in the Midlands and Wales today after around eight inches (19cm) came down across parts of Scotland. Temperatures are set to plumme...

(Reuters) - A senior Iranian political figure has spoken out against Turkey hosting Iran's next talks with world powers on its disputed nuclear program, in the latest anti-Turkish broadside from politicia...

(Reuters) - Thirteen members of a radical Islamist group arrested in police raids last week are being put under investigation on suspicion of terrorist activities, a public prosecutor said on Tuesday. Ni...

*Merah, suspected of Toulouse killings, claimed his innocence.** * On 2 April 2012, we learn that the lawyer for the father of Mohamed Merah says she has evidence that Mohamed Merah claimed his innocence t...

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama took an opening shot at conservative justices on the Supreme Court on Monday, warning that a rejection of his sweeping healthcare law would be an act of "judicial activi...

(Reuters) - Unlike most central banks, the Bank of Korea has the pursuit of "harmony" written into its statutes. But when it comes to harmonizing with the government, South Korea's central bank may have ...

(Reuters) - Syria has pledged to withdraw all military units from towns by April 10 to pave the way for a ceasefire with rebels two days later, though Western envoys were skeptical on Monday about Damascu...

(Reuters) - The United States has put up a $10 million reward to help arrest Pakistani Islamist leader Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, suspected of masterminding two spectacular attacks on India's financial capital...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The explosion of drug-fueled violence along Mexico's border with the United States could harm relations between the two nations, President Barack Obama said Monday; Mexico's leader reto...

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The Japanese government on Tuesday approved extending its sanctions against North Korea for one year, amid a lack of progress in resolving Pyongyang's past abductions of Japanese citizens...

Radioactive cesium up to 100 times pre-nuclear disaster levels has been detected in plankton inhabiting the sea far from the crippled nuclear plant following the March 2011 disaster, according to a survey...

A fire at a market warehouse on the outskirts of Moscow has killed 17 people, Russian authorities have said. Earlier it was reported that 15 people have been killed but the death toll has since risen. "...

I've been following the tragic slaying of Trayvon Martin but I refrained from blogging about it because I do enough commentary about stuff in the USA, which is a foreign country after all. And it's not lik...

This incredible footage was recorded as firefighters in China used an iPhone camera to seek out a two-year-old boy who had fallen down a well. The child plunged into the 40ft shaft while playing with frie...

A magnitude 5.1 earthquake has struck the New Ireland Region, Papua New Guinea at a depth of 109.5 km (68 miles), the quake hit at 10:42:35 UTC Tuesday 3rd April 2012 The epicenter was 48 km (29 miles) EN...

Ryan Leaf, the former star quarterback of Washington State, has been arrested for a second time in just four days. He is accused of committing another burglary two days after he posted bail on charges th...

A company that makes ‘pink slime’ products has filed for bankruptcy as the backlash against the controversial beef filler continues. AFA Foods has announced that it is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy pr...

A bill that passed in the Arizona state legislature could pose a major threat to freedom of speech in the state as it bans anything deemed ‘offensive’ that is published online. Though it started as an at...

A convicted murderer had his trial thrown out of court today after he spoke of a letter alleging a sexual relationship with the assistant district attorney. Danny Hembree, 50, was on trial for the second ...

It was seen as bombshell evidence in the Trayvon Martin shooting case, but a newly enhanced police surveillance tape could now tip the scales in the shooter's favour. The video, which shows George Zimmer...

Hoping to keep unmanned spy aircraft in the air for a longer period of time, U.S. scientists are reportedly toying with the idea of using nukes. Plans for such a fleet of drones were drawn up by Sandia Na...

Arrested: Israel Keyes, 34, is in police custody on unrelated charges and is the sole person of interest in the Koenig case. The body of an 18-year-old barista has been found in a lake, more than two mon...

Steve, one year ago : "I'm not opening this debate (on abortion). I don't want it opened. I have not wanted it opened. I haven't opened it as Prime Minister. I'm not going to open it. The public doesn't ...

I have blogged previously about the way that surface (weather) stations are located and how this may influence their readings. I have just noticed that Surface Stations have produced a paper on this. I ne...

A 44-year-old man who went on a shooting rampage at a Mississippi restaurant and critically injured five people today has been arrested. Police have charged Scott Tyner with aggravated assault in connecti...

A small plane crashed into a Florida shopping mall and burst into flames tonight, injuring at least five people and sending shoppers running from the building. Several people at the Northgate Shopping Ce...

Brulé and Airo, "Sacred Praises" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbjWn0EUcn4&feature=related *Peaceful Words:* “Great Spirit Great Spirit, give us hearts to understand; Never to take from creation's beau...

Authorities are trying to identify the source of what appears to be a mock movie poster warning that Al Qaeda wants to come back to New York City. The New York Police Department and the FBI discovered the...

A handyman was convicted yesterday of suffocating a cleaning lady and stuffing her body in an air-conditioning duct in a deserted office tower where they worked at night. Joseph Pabon, 27, was found guil...

This is the dramatic moment an armed robber, disguised as a Muslim woman in a burka, blagged his way into a jewellery store, and was followed by three accomplices who stole £30,000 of valuables in a gems ...

A female passenger thought to have fallen overboard during a ferry journey from Guernsey to Poole has been pictured for the first time as police investigate her mysterious disappearance. Sarah Fenton, 39...

One of the turning points in human evolution occurred 300,000 years earlier than previously believed. Traces of ash mixed with million-year-old bones and tools have been uncovered in the Wonderwerk Cave ...

Al Qaeda has been dealt another blow after a number of the terror organisation's web forums were shut down in an apparent cyber attack. According to The Washington Post, five Al Qaeda websites promoting a...

Britain has dodged a double-dip recession but the crisis in the eurozone is deepening with unemployment at a record high, according to the latest figures. The UK economy grew by 0.3 per cent in the first...

A controversial mobile app which allowed users to pinpoint locations of women nearby and access their full name, photos, and send them messages has been taken off the market due to safety concerns. The ...

A senior judge expressed his astonishment yesterday that a terrorist thrown out by the French is now living in Britain. The Algerian was convicted of a bomb attack in his home country but fled to France ...

A devout Catholic forgave the brute who tried to murder her in a random knife attack today as he was warned he may never be freed. Frail spinster Maria Morrison, 75, was stabbed repeatedly by 23-year old ...

On 22 March I posted this piece about James Delingpole's appearance on Richard Bacon's 5Live show. I was appalled that Richard Bacon didn't sound a) impartial or b) knowledgeable. And wondered if you ever ...

A teenager has been jailed for five years after admitting stabbing his stepfather to death in a row over a television. Moynul Haque, 18, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Mohammed Zillur-Rahman, 43, ...

Motorists face paying £1.50 a litre for petrol as shortages continue to hit half the nation’s forecourts. Fuel companies, which have been accused of profiteering with 10p increases, say the supply proble...

A have-a-go hero who tackled a gun-wielding robber has been jailed for life for a brutal murder. Deivydas Jacikas, 21, was praised for his bravery after he was caught on camera stopping a fleeing jewel t...

Taking antidepressants during pregnancy may slightly increase a woman’s risk of developing high blood pressure, new data suggests. Researchers at the Université de Montreal compared 1,216 women who develo...

Nearly all people who have sinus infections don’t need antibiotics, according to new guidelines for doctors. Sinus infections are the fifth leading reason why doctors prescribe antibiotics. But 90 to 99 ...

A breast cancer survivor who was exposed to a toxic mix of cancer-causing chemicals on the job at a plastic factory 20 years ago is warning that the health of workers still isn't protected enough. Sandy ...

Kim Jong Un’s turn as nostalgic replacement for his late grandfather, Kim Il-Sung, wasn’t the only bit of “history made new again” to come out of North Korea this week. North Korea has acquired US-made M...

The U.S. Coast Guard is expecting an aggressive protest effort as Shell Oil drills for oil in the Chukchi Sea this summer, and is planning a very active response of its own. Protests would likely take pl...

BEIJING: China is unlikely to defend Pakistan if questions are raised at the forthcoming Nuclear Security Summit about Islamabad's ability to safeguard its nuclear installations from theft or attack by te...

The war in Afghanistan—where the enemy is elusive and rarely seen, where the cultural and linguistic disconnect makes every trip outside the wire a visit to hostile territory, where it is clear that you a...

On 29 March, China intends to sign a memorandum in New Delhi with its Brazilian, Russian, Indian and South African BRICS counterparts to make national currency loans available within the bloc. This will r...

*Barthelemy Guerini, friend of the CIA, and top Marseilles drugs gangster.* *Reportedly, NATO enables Afghan heroin to reach Marseilles. * Reportedly, the CIA has a history of helping the Marseilles drugs g...

A magnitude 4.0 earthquake has struck Oklahoma at a depth of just 4.9 km (3 miles), the quake hit at 07:33:59 UTC Tuesday 3rd April 2012 The epicenter was 3 km (1.8 miles) Southeast from Pittsburg, Oklahom...

With a small tweak in assumptions and the inexorable force of compound arithmetic, Citigroup and HSBC have come up with radically different pictures of what the world will look like in 2050. Which of the...

The threat of an aerospace trade war between Europe and the rest of the world has escalated after India joined China in threatening retaliation over the European Commission's carbon emissions charges. Ch...

ISLAMABAD: India and China have never been serious military rivals. Never in history, other than the minor Sino-Indian Border Conflict of 1962, has India fought a sustained war with China. The probability...

Some historians say the brutal Russian dictator Joseph Stalin said, “God is on the side of the biggest guns.” Stalin killed something on the magnitude of 24 million people by various means during his rei...

*I was forwarded the rebuttal below sent to me by Michael Brine and I have agreed to publish it. This is a good example of what I call damage control. Whenever one goes against the party line of the a...

A magnitude 4.8 earthquake has struck the New Ireland Region, Papua New Guinea at a depth of 112.9 km (70.2 miles), the quake hit at 07:07:44 UTC Tuesday 3rd April 2012 The epicenter was 55 km (34 miles) ...

The BRIC acronym has served to add a dramatic flair to shifting global power structures by envisioning a club of up-and-coming BRIC countries challenging a world order built on the bedrock of imperialism....

Water scarcity will be one of the defining features of the 21st century. The U.N. predicts that by 2025 two thirds of the world's population will suffer water shortages. Here CNN takes a look at what we do...

"We’re living through amazing times. For anyone on the Left… it’s like an orgasmic wet dream. Think about it: Capitalism in crisis again; unemployment’s on the rise and so is inflation." Labour Shadow C...

A truck driver in Norway has had a lucky escape after he survived a 200ft drop down a snow-covered cliff. His lorry did not have the right winter tread tyres and was stuck on an icy road. It was being ...

Twelve people have been killed by a fire that swept through a market warehouse in southern Moscow. The victims were migrant workers from former Soviet states, AFP news agency quoted the city's emergencie...

*I don't usually post Ben Fulford's posts in full, since it is a paid blog. I am going to make an exception this time and my apologies to Ben and Kauilapele for lifting this from KPs web site. This i...

This is very good news for heart patients and particularly everyoneelse over twenty. We can expect to see asimple diagnostic test which establishes the presence of lesions putting thepatient at risk. ...

We need better storage advice to be far more available than it is. This bit is a small start. A small contribution is the storage of yams and sweet potatoes. I learned this after decades of wastage....

The fall out from the fraud induced Great Recession continues and inthe meantime, no one tries to re-establish the common sense regulatory schemethat carried us through to 1999. withoutquestion, the on...

This appears to be the week forgood news on the heart disease front. This is certainly a novel approach to the problem in that it treats thebad cholesterol with antibodies or immune therapies. That it ...

April 2, 2012 Bitter Seeds: The Plight of India's Farmers (Trailer) *by grtv * Bitter Seeds explores the future of how we grow things, weighing in on the worldwide debate over the changes created by in...

Strange Bedfellows: Danielle Smith and Brian Mason imagined discussing voting strategy in the Legislature… Alberta politicians may not be exactly as illustrated ... or as weird as reality! If you think t...

Happy heterosexual families from Alberta: May not be exactly as illustrated (see below). Just the other day, Wildrose Party Leader Danielle Smith was assailing Premier Redford for not loving Alberta suff...

Describing Pakistan based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) as the most dangerous terrorist group operating in South Asia after Al Qaeda, a US expert has advocated its destruction by the US with or without Pakistan's...

More than half of likely voters doubt that the United States will be the No. 1 world leader in science, technology and health care by the year 2020, according to a new national public opinion poll commiss...

The existing drug price control policy (also known for their illegal terms as MDRP + GMAP) in the Philippines will turn three years old in four months. I checked today google search engine and typed "drug ...

*Back here* I told the story of a frustrating bit of research where I ended up finding a small bouquet of strange connections between the Harper Conservatives and the BC Liberal party of Christy Clark. Th...

Asia leads the world when it comes to weapon imports, according to a study released Monday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Globally the volume of international transfers ...

NATO must investigate the killing of dozens of civilians during its air campaign in Libya last year and provide reparations to the people affected, Amnesty International said on Monday. "Adequate investi...

Libya's oil exports have rebounded much faster than expected and will exceed pre-Arab Spring levels as soon as April, plugging a crucial gap in world crude supply as the Iranian crisis comes to the boil. ...

(CBS News) The National Debt has now increased more during President Obama's three years and two months in office than it did during 8 years of the George W. Bush presidency. The Debt rose $4.899 trillion...

(CNN) -- Think of Baghdad and for most people what comes to mind is a city of damaged buildings and concrete checkpoints. This is what Caecilia Pieri expected the first time she visited the Iraqi capital...

International hoteliers are building dedicated brands in China to lure Chinese business travelers. China is expected to become the world’s largest hotel market by 2025 and the second-largest business trav...

Pader, Uganda (CNN) -- Pauline Oto still wears her faded yellow and green school dress, but she hasn't been to school for years and she can't comprehend what to do with the pen the community nurse has jus...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Lawmakers on Friday were handed the official score card on President Obama's proposed budget for 2013. The Congressional Budget Office concluded that the president's budget would a...

Hate the full-body scans, pat-downs and slow going at TSA airport security screening checkpoints? For $100, you can now bypass the hassle. The Transportation Security Administration is rolling out expedit...

(CNN) -- The U.S. Postal Service appears to be the latest casualty in digital technology's slow but steady replacement of working humans. Unless an external source of funding comes in, the post office wil...

Long Beach, California (CNN) -- Gasoline at $4 a gallon is no worry for T. Boone Pickens, the billionaire energy investor from Texas. He drives from his home to his office in a car that runs on fuel cost...

Some are basic, others beautiful, with high ceilings and nice yards. 'Life is easy and comfortable here,' one cave dweller says. Reporting from Yanan, China— Like many peasants from the outskirts of Yanan...

When people download a film from Netflix to a flatscreen, or turn on web radio, they could be alerting unwanted watchers to exactly what they are doing and where they are. Spies will no longer have to pl...

For parents of young children it's no good being a technophobe. The other day I was fiddling with my iPhone when I inadvertently pushed the icon for one of the many functions I don’t understand and never ...

Nouakchott, Mauritania (CNN) -- As a member of Mauritania's slave-owning class, Abdel Nasser Ould Ethmane could have had anything he wanted as a present for his circumcision ceremony: a toy, money, a came...

Cincinnati (CNN) -- On a cul-de-sac behind a strip mall in an anonymous neighborhood of this Midwestern city is an incredible story of escape from slavery. Marieme's neighbors don't know her history. Sh...

It has become the most expensive herbal remedy in Chinese medicine and it is prized for its reputation as a powerful aphrodisiac that boosts men's sexual prowess. CHAME, Nepal – In a dim, dusty stockade ...

Every good progressive knows that making ethical shopping decisions is a tricky business. Many dubious shopping practices are well-known: Wal-Mart and other big box stores that famously mistreat their work...

Activists in Arizona are developing an app to help come to the aid of immigrants in the state who are living in a post-SB 1070 era. Far too often, even pre-SB 1070, immigrant rights activists heard compla...

Moving to the New Blogger Interface

Last September, we introduced a new user interface that makes it easier to find what you need and focus on writing great blog posts. Since then, we’ve implemented a number of updates and improvements based on your feedback.

In the coming weeks, we will change the default interface for those of you still using the old version, and bring the advantages of Blogger’s improved interface to everyone. If you are already on the new interface, there will be no change.

If you have been using the old interface, give the new look a try today by clicking “Upgrade Now” at the top of the page. This is, of course, a free upgrade and all major features are present in the new interface. You can still temporarily switch back to the old interface by clicking the “Old Blogger interface” link located in settings, but not for much longer.

We recommend that anyone currently using the old interface switch to the new one, as all accounts will be permanently upgraded very soon.

When you switch to the new interface, you'll find a number of new features that we've released recently, including:

To help you get a better sense of what’s changed and how to navigate the new interface, check out the short video below or read the friendly guide “Using our upgraded interface”.

We hope you enjoy the new interface and welcome your thoughts about the new look. If you have suggestions or feedback, sign in to Blogger and click “Send Feedback” at the bottom right of the screen.

— A Googler

( This post was made using the old utility. What happens next is a good question. I cannot reproduce the number of precis of articles that comes through my Dashboard manually. Time constraints make that idea a non starter. Suggestions would be welcome. Otherwise this particular post may go the way of Google Reader extracts - sparse to nonexistent. )

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I've been 'around' for a few years now, pursuing the shifting goal of a sharable home-made surfers resource site focused on ease of use and variety of mostly adult ( whoa : I didn't say prurient ) content.